French Finance Minister: Taxing Internet giants can earn 500 million euros a year

Netease Technologies News, March 4, according to foreign media reports, French Finance Minister Bruno LeMaire said Sunday that large Internet companies in France are taxed at 3% of their revenue, generating 500 million euros a year.

Lemmel told the Parisian newspaper that the tax is levied on companies with at least 750 million euros of digital revenue worldwide and more than 25 million euros in France.

He said the tax would target about 30 companies, mostly American companies, including Chinese, German, Spanish and British companies, as well as a French company and several French companies acquired by foreign companies.

Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple will be the targets of the tax, as will Uber, Airbnb, Booking and Criteo, the French online advertising company.

This, he said, involves fiscal justice because these digital giants pay about 14% less tax than small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe. The tax issue has been a key appeal of the yellow vest protests in France over the past three months.

He said the tax was aimed at platform companies, which earn commissions by providing platform services to customers. (Tianmen Mountain)